|
Sid,
Whew... you hadn't said anything so I was begining to think I was off the mark.
My one and only serious ground loop was in a '48 Cessna 170. I was landing on a runway that was on top of a hill. Next to the runway on the right side were a bunch of hangars.
There was a pretty good crosswind blowing... and I was getting pretty confident in my 170. Two of my kids were asleep in the back.
The approach sucked... should have given up at that point. It was gusty... plus being on top of a hill, there were lots of down drafts to deal with too as you got close to the runway. As I crossed the threshold everything magically came together and I put the main wheels down in a wheel landing and began my roll out... yoke forward... The plane was slowing down nicely.. tracking right down the middle of the runway...
Remember those hangars I mentioned... well at about this time I passed the last one and suddenly was smacked broadside by that crosswind I'd been fighting all the way to the ground.
The tail swung around faster than you can imagine. I stomped on the left rudder... all the way to the stop. all that did was stop the swerve... I was now about to exit the runway at a 45 degree angle.
I could tell that I stopped the swerve because one of the runway lights was directly in front of me and only getting bigger...
I was adding brake now, only a little, and was getting nowhere... had to make a decision... continue with what I was doing, or figure out something else.
It was clear to my right so I eased up on the rudder a bit, let the plane turn into the wind where it wanted to go anyway, stopped the turn, and brought the plane to a stop just off the runway... exactly in a tie down spot.
Kids still sleeping... I pulled the mixture, let the engine die... and had a long think about what just happened.
Hmmm... hangars masked the wind from the runway... should have quit the approach when I was having difficulty getting it stablized, a little power might have been helpful... wow that tail came around fast... yes, the ailerons were into the wind... suprised that the downwind wing didn't come up... maybe it did, didn't notice... kids snoring away in the back... heart going 90gazillion mph...
As I was thinking about all the stuff I looked in the parking space to my right... there sat a Luscombe with a banged up wing tip... hmmm I wonder what happened to him...
rob
|